In the phrase "You listen here cigarette butts, when I get back we're gonna have a boxing match!" and the song "I save cigarette butts," what is Daniel referring to? What are the cigarette butts?

Do you really not know what cigarette butts are, or are you looking for a nonexistent metaphor? Are you not from the US? In the UK they'd be called "fag ends" if that helps.

The majority of the song is patented straightforward Daniel lyric style, foregoing meter and rhyme in favor of the literal recollection of events he finds worthy of immortalizing; the Frankenstein and angel dream bits are added touches of Dylan-ish fantasy -- although Dan only went through his obsessive Dylan-listening phase a couple of years ago (with little obvious result, as far as i can tell).

Here's the lyrics as given at rejectedunknown.com:

I Save Cigarette Butts

- Songs of Pain (1981), Early Recordings Volume I (2003)

I save cigarette butts for a poor girlacross townWe were making marriage plansand some guy came over and took her toa wrestling match

later that evening Frankenstein and the beauty queen sat thumbing througha better homes and gardens magazinemaking plans and holding handsalong came a spider, sat down beside herand took her toa wrestling match

I had this dream about these angelsI had this dream the other nightit was really weirdthey were playing guitarsand getting loudand they spilt beer on Jesus

I save cigarette butts for a poor girlacross townI spent a lot of money at the pizza shopjust to watch the waitresses walkback and forth

I go to school, I'm a college studentI have a secret pocket on the inside of my coatwhere I keep this cigarette buttmeanwhile on the dance floorthe loud guitar solo seems to be promoting wild desiresthe music has set their hearts on fire with lustSure are a lot of cigarette butts layin' around

I thought I'd give her one more chanceso I went over to see her again at her houseand when I walked inthere was her and himand they were having a wrestling matchI save cigarette butts for a poor girlacross town

Hope that helps, as they say...

- notdan

Logged

They laughed when I sat down at the piano.They didn't think that I could play.But their laughter turned to amazement,When I got back up and carried it away...

okkkkkay. are you guys rdy for this. i know cigarette butt girl personally, she is my aunt. she grew up with daniel in west virginia. her name is laura. she was very poor growing up, and always needed cigs. daniel would go around to all the public ashtrays and collect butts for her. he had a hidded pocket inside of his denim jacket in which he would stash them until he saw her in the evenings. he also would stop around local pizza joints and go to every empty table and steal the unwanted crusts of pizza and hide those in his jackt to snack on ;0

its been fantastic hearing these personal stories about daniel from my mother and her sister...they were present for daniels first thoughts on the lyrics for 'walking the cow"

its pretty amazing how much of a genius he was, even as a young teenager.nwhat an inspiration!!

Yes, there is a real cigarette girl, Laura...my sister. Daniel loved our piano we had in our basement. He spent hours writing and playing on the old piano. He taped with a cassette player. We all worked at the Eagles Club haunted house in East Liverpool, Ohio. The best times. Daniel helped paint the sets and he was an actor. He was so funny as nurse.....it was a surgery room! Laura and I played his victim. Our guts Daniel created with strings from a floor mop! Dan would sing as customers came through....making it up as he gutted...lol. He did have a jacket with a zipper and supplied Laura with cigarette butts. It was very giving of Daniel, as we were poor in the truest sense. We lived on Gardendale up on the hill. Daniel would come often, brought a friend sometimes. Daniel and my sister were "together", but in their own way. 2 very unique people.